Zebra stripes are unique to each individual. 🦓
Zebras are iconic for their distinctive coats, but have you ever wondered whether zebras are white with black stripes or black with white stripes?
These stripes are unique to each individual. There are three zebra species living today — the plains zebra , the mountain zebra and the Grevy's zebra — and each of those species has a different striping pattern, too. For some, the darker portions of their hide are black, whereas others have browner coloring, and some have stripes only on their bodies but not on their legs.
But that's not the case. Here's why: Every piece of hair — both light and dark — grows from a follicle filled with melanocyte cells, according to a 2005 review in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology . These cells produce a pigment that determines the color of hair and skin. This pigment is known as melanin; a lot of melanin leads to darker colors, like dark brown or black, while less melanin leads to lighter colors, such as hazel or blond, Live Science previously reported.
The exact biological processes behind the zebra's stripes aren't known, but in African striped mice , which have light and dark stripes running along their furry bodies, the gene Alx3 is more active along light stripes than dark stripes, according to a 2016 study in the journal Nature . Alx3 effectively stops a master regulator gene in charge of melanocyte development, leading to light-colored hair, the researchers found.
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